hiss
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A sibilant sound, such as that made by a snake or escaping steam.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hisIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɪs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A sibilant sound, such as that made by a snake or escaping steam; an unvoiced fricative.
A fricative sound (especially as an expression of disapproval)
“The performers could not be heard over the hissing of the audience.”
An expression of disapproval made using such a sound.
verb
intransitive
To make a hiss, a sibilant sound of air escaping.
transitiveintransitive
To condemn or express contempt (for someone or something) by hissing.
Make a sharp hissing sound, as if to show disapproval
transitive
To utter (something) with a hissing sound.
transitive
To call someone by hissing.
intransitive
To move with a hissing sound.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A sibilant sound, such as that made by a snake or escaping steam; an unvoiced fricative.
Used this way, hiss is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use hiss
- “The performers could not be heard over the hissing of the audience.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A fricative sound (especially as an expression of disapproval).
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: sibilant sound
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.